Five Tips for Building a Kick-Ass Franchise Website

Ready to put your feet up on your desk and wait for the leads to come poring in? Me, too. Won’t happen. Not today when every franchise brand is fighting for the exact same lead as you. And many of them have invested the proper time, design and money into creating a kick-ass website – on a mission to steal your leads and award your deals.

Don’t fret, though. There is still time to change your site. Change starts with your admitting your site needs work. Here are five tips for creating a kick-ass franchise development focused website:

You are trying to sell a Mercedes at a Ford dealership.

No offense to the Ford owners out there (yeah, you, Mom), but when you go to a Ford dealership you expect to buy a Ford. The problem is, in franchising, many of you are trying to sell a Mercedes. Pause and look at your message. Are you really selling a dream or are you saying “great support” “our franchisees," blah, blah, blah? To win, it starts with content and nailing your message. Go read your site and ask yourself if you would change your life to buy it. If the answer is no, then the same may be true for your prospects.

Drive a car blind and you will likely crash.

Look at your navigation. Does it walk the ghost prospect through your sales process or will they click around blindly and get lost? Remember, you are trying to lead a ghost to water – or a horse, whatever you want to call it. Ghosts are looking at your site right now. Your navigation should simply tell them why this brand, why this industry, how much does it cost, how much can I make, where can I open, leaders (internal and franchisees), and now, get off your butt and give us your info (contact us).

How the hell do I contact you?

It amazes me how many sites don’t lead that horse to the contact form. And by contact form, I mean apply to own. When you say contact, the call-to-action is weak. If I, when single, I went up to a girl at a bar, handed her a piece of paper and said contact me – she wouldn’t. Call-to-actions need to be confident and direct.

How much can I make?

If you have an Item 19, use it. Don’t be ashamed – find the glory and deliver it to the prospect. They desperately want to know how much money they can make. If you went to the ATM, punched in your pin, and had to guess how much would come out – wouldn’t you be worried? Sure, it’s not an exact number, but it will give them an idea. And don’t forget, average sucks – those who want to be No. 1 in your system are golden.

Design like you give a s%@#

Yeah, that’s right, create a beautifully designed Website – rich with stories, videos and information. Why? Because you are selling a business, son. Sell a business! You want someone to invest their life savings into your brand – show them why they should. Make it look like you care. A photo is worth a million words, so is a website. Typography, photos, effort.

Do those five things and you are off to a good start. You don’t have to invest a ton of money, just make it look like you care. Drive more prospects to act on the deal you are trying to move.